This guy is such a marvel. He could literally, when healthy, use one pitch to get through an entire game. He is so ridiculously filthy that if he ever came to the NL and stayed healthy for the entire season, he’d win the Cy Young easy.

That said, I don’t think I’d ever deal with Billy Beane ever again.

We have enough pitchers in the infirmary as it is…

The thing to like about Harden: lots of injuries—none structurally damaging to his arm. So the stuff is still there. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a man of glass, and you don’t trade valuable goods for the man of glass. Because glass breaks. Shatters, even. And he has cracked, but sooner or later he might shatter and then, well, we all know what happened when Mulder shattered. You can’t pick up the pieces.

Yeah, I dragged that metaphor out too long intentionally. Heh.

Some stats:

2007-Present: 12 GS, 68.1 IP, 79 K, 2.90 ERA
2006-Present: 21 GS, 115 IP, 128 K, 3.44 ERA*
2005-Present: 40 GS, 238 IP, 242 K, 3.03 ERA

*Three scoreless relief appearances omitted.

In other words, he strikes out more than one per inning, he’s been sick nasty even in the midst of his injuries—had a bit of a down year in 2006 (4.24 ERA), but sandwiched it with displays of sickdom in 2005 and 2007 (2.53 and 2.45 ERA, respectively). His ERA is under 3.00 again this year, and anyone who has watched him will tell you that he’s a dominant force.

And I saw him throw a 91 MPH changeup once and have the hitter out on his front foot. He was pumping 100 MPH gas at the time. My jaw rested on the floor.

I’d say get him if he didn’t cost much—problem is, it’s Beane, so he will. As a result, I’m not even considering him to be an option. If he were always healthy, we wouldn’t have the prospects to fetch him. And because he’s always hurt, he’s not worth the prospects it will take.

But man, would he look good in red…

Just depends on the price. If Billy was willing to give him up for a package of good not great Cards like: Duncan, Reyes, and Bryan Anderson, I’d think about it, but ultimately, I wouldn’t be able give up Anderson in this deal….. I just don’t think Dunc and Reyes would get it done…. And I think someone else with deeper pockets would give up more than we would be willing to….

...It’s wierd…He’s always been hurt, but his mechanics aren’t really bad. The only flaws I see is that his finish isn’t ideal and that he isn’t very strong with his front side, but really there are worse things than those, and I don’t think they could fully explain his myriad of injuries.

He has some of the nastiest, filthiest, dirtiest stuff on the face of the earth. If he could put together full seasons he’d be in the class of Santana and Peavy, if not higher then those two. I heard a stat that he consistently leads the league in 95+ mph fastball percentage, but I don’t know the truth to that. Still though, chedd plus wicked breaking stuff leads to some sensational results.

Last time we traded the A’s for a pitcher, we lost Haren and got the best pitcher ever Mulder. Remind me how that worked out…

Interesting thing about Harden:

he is sticking to the fastball and straight (or in his case, falls off the table) change. Almost no splitters, curve-balls, or sliders. This may have something to do with his improved health. However, since he is pitching so well, you really hear almost nothing about it. His change up is so good that I’ve seen a number of announcers mistake it for a split-fingered fastball.

He has also lost about 3 mph, in the average, off of his fastball. He is doing really well at using this zone to change the speed on the pitch intentionally, and throwing 95+ when he needs to.

Both of these moves seem to be compensating for, or caused by his previous injuries. He cut the curveball after the elbow problem in 06, and drastically reduced the splitter this year. Part of the A’s organizational strategy in the lower minor leagues is to push the change-up, as it puts the least strain on a pitchers arm of the various off-speed pitches. It is interesting to see that same strategy reflected in the team’s most talented major league pitcher.

Despite this news, no pitching coach I’ve known has much of a problem with Harden’s motion. Playing up the role of the change up, and learning to pitch smarter may have been the trick to staying healthy Rich has been looking for. The only thing holding up a trade are:

1. The A’s are hardly out of contention in the AL.

2. Harden goes up in value every start he makes, in terms of
a. likelihood to start in the World Series for the receiving team, and
b. haul the A’s can get in return.

Harden has expressed an interest in playing in NY.